Settra the Imperishable
"...There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So as it is written, so shall it be done. I, Settra, have proclaimed it - let none dare oppose my will." Settra the Imperishable
The first king of the first dynasty of the kingdom of Nehekhara, greatest badass of the Tomb Kings, and he with the most magnificent beard outside Dwarfs.
Though he was a tyrannical ruler, Settra is regarded as Nehekhara's best king. This is because he united the cities of Nehekhara into one kingdom and rebuilt the realm after it had been decimated by civil war, plague and drought. While he was ruthless dealing with dissenters, he was generous when his people came through, doing things such as praising the proles when they did well and giving lots of rewards (because he had mastered one of the most famous [and perverted by media] of Machiavelli's ideas - a ruler should be both feared and loved [only choose fear if they can't have both] and avoid being hated at all costs. All the other Kings [and Queen] only focused on the 'loved' or 'feared')
Personality
A powerful man, but vain and egotistical as well. In older fluff, Settra actually renamed the entirety of Nehekhara after his capital city of Khemri, but he's Settra so he can do whatever he wants. His solution to the fact that all men die; find a way to overcome death (even if you think he's a wuss for trying to avoid death, he put his mind to it and he was never a pussy about it).
He was ruthless towards anyone who challenged or even questioned his rule, from bandits to leaders of other kingdoms who thought they were "equal", having them dealt with loudly and publicly. In undeath, he became strong enough that he can tear anyone who invites his wrath limb from limb, with his bare hands. Unlike most Nehekharan royals however, he was also clever and rewarding to those amongst his subjects who pleased him. The combination of brutal efficiency and effective rule brought about an unequaled golden age for Nehekhara that trumped everything humans (and came close to the height of elves, showing their racism as their statements of humans being crude seem to avoid mentioning Nehekhara) that had ever been before or after.
He is also a textbook example of the Knight Templar trope (well-intentioned extremist, doing terrible things to get his point across, bonus points for being religious too). The man sacrificed his own children without a second thought to the gods to prove his devotion to them (whether this makes him a dedicated ruler or an evil zealot is a matter of debate).
In all fluff, Settra wound up with more titles than an Ogre Tyrant and had servants who's entire job was reciting them (punishment for those who fucked up) all day, every day. It took his heralds nearly two hours to say them all. Unlike many people with a ton of titles, he earned them. They include:
- Khemrikhara
- Mighty Lion Of The Infinite Desert
- Emperor Of The Shifting Sands
- He Who Holds The Sceptre
- Great Hawk Of The Heavens
The Legend
Life
Of all the kings of Nehekhara, none could match the splendor, cruelty and arrogance of Settra, first King of Khemri... Well, except Nagash.
Death (and all the bullshit that happened when he wasn't around to keep the peace)
After his death and burial (including the customary ritual suicide of his army to serve him in the afterlife; by the way, Nehekhara must have been full of carefree sex if they can afford to keep the population up despite sacrificing an army every time the reigning king dies), another king took the throne. Each king built a grand tomb for when they died, but none of them (except the Usruper mentioned below) dared make one bigger or better than Settra's.
The Mortuary Cult went on to become more powerful, even harnessing magic, and the kingdom remained strong until the reign of king Thutep when a certain brother of his decided things should be done his way. The end result was the destruction of all life in Khemri and the resurrection of its legions of the dead as the undying Tomb Kings. They were enslaved initially to Nagash's will but once he was defeated had their free will returned
The now undead Kings realised that the Mortuary Cult's preservation methods were not 100% perfect; they had succeeded in keeping their souls in their corpses but their bodies had nonetheless shrivelled up and decayed somewhat, with the most decayed being almost mindless. Naturally, one can imagine that this was a depressing situation for them and countless generations of dynasties took one look at having to spend the rest of eternity alongside each other and started beating the shit out of each other, trying to figure out who could be top dog.
Return
The Liche Priests eventually despaired that the incessant fighting between the returned dynasties was Not Good. In fact, there was a very real chance that the Tomb Kings would destroy each other out of sheer pride. Finally, the head of the Mortuary Cult, Grand Hierophant Khatep, finally decided he would get shit done. He broke the seals on Settra's pyramid, scurried inside, and deliberately awoke Settra and Nekaph, who promptly rode out like a sandstorm from nowhere and broke heads until all of the other lesser Tomb Kings agreed to sit down and shut up. Even Arkhan the Black was driven back, although his sorcerous powers are mighty enough that even Settra can't beat him permanently and he has to give Arkhan the occasional pimp-slapping to make him keep his nose out of Settra's business.
After he finally had a chance to sit down and hear what happened during the two thousand years he was dead, Settra was pissed. Seriously pissed. In his rage, he declared Khatep an exile, forbidden to ever set foot in any of the great cities until such a time that he can fulfill the Mortuary Cult's ancient promise and reinstate the golden age of Nehekhara. Ever since, Settra has been focused on trying to restore his former empire, keeping a particular watch for the inevitable return of Nagash, determined to kill the Liche Lord and ensure only one undying monarch would rule over Nehekhara. After that, Settra declared an age of expansion and massed the armies to expand Nehekhara, and make the name of Settra once again feared (but not hated) across the world.
Unfortunately this would not happen.
During the final battle for Khemri, Settra and his forces were on the verge of defeating the forces of the vampire counts when Nagash showed up. Nagash, super powered after nomming the death god of Nehekara and taking over the underworld, curb stomps Settra's army and Settra alone faces nagash. Settra doesn't even land a hit before nagash sends a fuckload of spirits to pull settra into the air. Nagash gives honor to settra and offers him a place as one of his lieutenants, to which Settra looks him in the eye and said:
"SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE" he shouted, trembling with rage, "SETTRA RULES!" Utterly badass.
This doesn't phase Nagash, who just says "fuck it" and casually blows up Settra and scatters his bones across the sands of Khemri. As a final insult, Nagash turns his Black Pyramid into a floating evil fortress and destroys Khemri , forcing Settras immobile head to watch helplessly from the sand. After fuck knows how long, Settra starts to wish he were mortal just so he could truly die. Then, unknown forces put his bones back together and fill him with new power. 4 voices tell him it doesn't have to end this way and that he can still be king. Settra doesn't answer, but its heavily implied that he may become a new Champion of Chaos.
On the Tabletop
Settra has had a model since the days Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts were just Warhammer: Undead, which looked like he was pulled from an Abbott and Costello movie (or the Boris Karloff mummy movies). In gameplay, he was slow (movement 3 like a Dwarf, slightly lower initiative, no pimping chariot) and carried the Flail of Skulls as his weapon instead of the Blessed Blade of Burning Things Ptra (guess which Ancient Egyptian god he's based on; subtlety, what's that?)
He got a new model when Tomb Kings became their own army, and it's absolutely MAGNIFICENT. From his pose to the details on the chariot, he epitomizes the look of the army and if you are trying to proxy something else as him you should be prepared for other Tomb Kings players to remove your head and use your still-living skull as artillery to fire at Games Workshop headquarters after updates. He's fairly expensive point-wise, but unlike most named Lords is actually worth considering outside large-scale games (to the point that, along with Khalida, he is actually the only other truly competitively viable choice when named characters are allowed). Between 4th and 8th Edition Settra got a huge boost in rules (including terror, ward saves, an ASF sword that blinded people and arguably his best item; The Chestplate of Cannonball-Eating Golden Magnificence that gave him a 2+ Armour Save which couldn't be reduced to worse than a 4+ even if hit by attacks that ignore armour saves). This is also where he gained his chariot, a super pimped out one called the Chariot of the Gods.
In the latest edition, going by his profile Settra's also the strongest man in the Warhammer World; he has a basic strength of 6. That's right 6, meaning he could beat a Chaos Lord or an Ogre Tyrant in an arm-wrestling match! He can be fielded without his chariot (which can now burn things with magical fire when it hits or runs over them), but he becomes less effective as he's somewhat fragile without the bonuses from it.
Besides that however, the best fluff and crunch army for him is a full chariot charge anyways with him at the front. Screaming Skull Catapults are also advised, as they are Settra's main method of dealing with uppity boneheads Tomb Kings who think they don't have to salute when he passes or jump when he commands.
Gallery
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Settra's model. The hardest thing about painting it is resisting kissing his tiny feet long enough for the paint to dry.
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Settra riding his pimped out chariot.
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Settra popping wheelies around Nagash's broke bus-riding ass.
